Tampa Bay Rays

500!500!500!500!500!This is a big deal for Bulls fans. Congratulations to Charlie Montoyo for his 500th victory! Back in 1995 an infielder by the name of Charlie Montoyo was up in Pennsylvania playing ball for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons, a Philadelphia Phillies Triple-A franchise. Last night he was back in town managing the Durham Bulls to his 500th win as their leader. For the record, let us say here that Charlie Montoyo just might be the best manager in minor league baseball. In seven years his teams have played 908 games and won 500 of them along with armloads of championships. You can look it up.Let’s just sit back an enjoy the history for a moment.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (29-19) While Roberto Hernandez is floundering in the major leagues, Alex Colome keeps bolstering his case for a look as he pitched solidly in the Bulls 9-4 victory last night. Colome pitched five innings, allowing two runs (none earned) on five hits, two walks, and two strikeouts. The Bull's offense chased the opposing starter, Graham Stoneburner, out of the game after only 3.1 innings, tagging him for six runs. They also managed two runs off of the tough Mark Montgomery. Brandon Guyer, Tim Beckham, and Juan Apocado each collected two hits, while Beckham reached base four times. Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (23-24) The Montgomery Biscuits clung to their small lead in a 2-1 victory over the Jackson Generals. After allowing a run in the first inning, Jake Thompson cruised through the next six frames. Juan Sandoval collected the two inning save, although he made it interesting by allowing four hits. The Biscuits offense did just enough, managing only six hits and four walks. Advanced Class-A Charlotte Stone Crabs (20-27) In a back and forth game, the Stone Crabs could not hold onto their leads, dropping the game 6-5 in walk off fashion. Parker Markel went 5.1 innings, allowing eight hits, three runs (one earned), two walks, and six strikeouts. The Stone Crabs quickly relinquished their lead when Christopher Kirsch labored through his 2.2 innings, allowing two more runs. The final tally came off of Eliazer Suero in the bottom of the ninth. Ryan Brett, Richie Shaffer, Alejandro Segovia (who is on fire), and Hector Guevara each had multiple hits on the night. Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (28-19) The Hot Rods lost the first game of their double header by the score of 4-0. Sean Bierman and Nick Sawyer lasted four and three innings, respectively; both allowed two runs, although Sawyer did not allow a single hit. The Hot Rods bats were quiet, collecting only three hits and two walks. The second game was far better for the Hot Rods as they defeated the Great Lake Loons 4-2. After allowing two runs in the first inning, the Hot Rods pitchers kept the Loons off the scoreboard the rest of the way thanks to strong relief performances from Marcus Jensen and Matt Ramsey. The Hot Rods generated four runs in part by their six walks. Thomas Coyle doubled home two runs. CLICK HERE FOR ALL BOX SCORES Star of the Day: Jake Thompson gets the nod for his great performance. Goat of the Day: The Stone Crabs bullpen could not hold onto the lead. Today's Games: Durham @ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV)Martin (5-2, 3.48) v. Cotham (0-2, 9.00) Montgomery v. Jackson 7:35 PM (MiLB.TV)Kelly (3-4, 3.81) v. Rufin (1-2, 2.87) Charlotte @ Ft. Myers 6:05 PMTBA v. TBA Bowling Green v. Fort WayneQuinonez (2-3, 6.15) v. Weickel (0-2, 5.46) DRaysBay Top 50 Prospect Stat Lines: Brandon Guyer: 2-5, 2BWil Myers: 1-4, 2B, 2 KsTim Beckham: 2-3, 2B, 2 BBsAlex Colome: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 KsMikie Mahtook: 0-4, 2 KsCameron Seitzer: 1-3, 2B, BBTodd Glaesmann: 0-4, 2 KsRyan Brett: 2-5, 2B, 2 KsJake Hager: 1-2, 2 BBsDrew Vettleson: 1-4, 2 KsRichie Shaffer: 2-5, 2B, KAlejandro Segovia: 2-3, 2B, 2 BBsKes Carter: 1-4, KParker Markel: 5.1 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 KsAndrew Toles: 1-6, 3 KsTyler Goeddel: 0-3, KPatrick Leonard: 1-3, 3 BBsGranden Goetzman: 0-2Nick Sawyer: 3 IP, 0 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 3 Ks

Kim Klement – USA Today Sports Images The Tampa Bay Rays are trying to stay alive in the American League East right now, despite a relatively mediocre beginning to their 2013 MLB season. They’re currently in fourth place in the division, which obviously isn’t where they would like to be at all, but they trail the division leaders, the New York Yankees, by just five games. Of the success that they’ve had early on this year, their starting pitching has been the biggest reason why, even with David Price struggling and now being injured. Matt Moore has been pitching at a historical rate and out of his mind while Alex Cobb has also been more than reliable on the bump. However, the Rays are still waiting for some of their bats to come alive. Evan Longoria looks like a superstar once again and James Loney is on-pace right now to have the best season of his career. However, the rest of the Rays’ lineup has been inconsistent and most of them have struggled at times. Shortstop Yunel Escocbar, though, may be the Tampa Bay player who has had the hardest time at the start of this year. Through 42 games played, Escobar has 157 plate appearances, but has just a .211 batting average, only a .277 OBP and a paltry .629 OPS. He has four home runs, which is nice, but has scored just 14 runs and driven in just 17. Escobar simply has had a hard time getting on base and making things happen at the plate. Escobar, like many of the Rays hitters, should be able to turn it around as the season goes on. He’s never hit below .250 in a season before and never had an OBP below .300, so it’s likely he’s just in a slump at the beginning of the season. Even if that’s so, though, it doesn’t take away how poorly he’s played over the first two months of the season. Cody Williams is a Senior Writer with Rant Sports. Follow Cody on Twitter @TheSizzle20 and like his Facebook page.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Brett Gardner, Lyle Overbay and Jayson Nix each drove in two runs, and the New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 9-4 on Friday night. View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Tampa Bay Rays News

Joe is back with his postgame thoughts…  Joe’s about had it with (the bad) Roberto Hernandez. This guy is getting lit up time and again and with the scant percentage the Rays have at returning to the pennant race, the Rays cannot have a starter throwing batting practice like this slug has been doing of late. Joe would rather have the good Roberto Hernandez, an original Devil Rays closer, start even though he hasn’t pitched in six years and is 48-years old. In his last five starts, the bad Roberto Hernandez has coughed up 18 runs.  This is simply not acceptable. Joe has heard how this guy, the bad Roberto Hernandez, is good at eating up innings. Hell, anyone’s grandmother can pitch on the mound for five or six or eight innings so long as a manager never yanks them. “Eating innings” is a misused stat (of course). It’s about getting guys out. And the bad Roberto Hernandez cannot. Exactly why is Chris Archer languishing in Durham when this slug, the bad Roberto Hernandez, is coughing up games with the parent squad? © Joe Rays Fan for Rays Index, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags:

ROGER MOONEY ST. PETERSBURG Rays Manager Joe Maddon said Fernando Rodney remains his closer and that he’s not entertained the thought of moving Rodney to another role in the bullpen. “Not at all,” Maddon said. The Rays open a three-game series with the first place Yankees tonight at the…

Playing A Little Pepper… Matt Joyce will hit leadoff for the 3rd time this season and 6th time in his career. He is 11-22 with 3 HR hitting leadoff…The Rays are 24-22, the only 4th place team in MLB with a winning record and 2.5 games better than any other 4th place team…The Rays pythagorean record (expected record based on runs scored and allowed) is 24-22 suggesting their record is a perfect reflection of how well they have played…There is a report that Carl Crawford is dating Chad Johnson’s ex. And it sounds like it has something to do with his Crawford’s tax bracket. Game Graph… [Will be up at game time] Source: FanGraphs Lineup… Matt Joyce, RF Ben Zobrist, 2B Luke Scott, DH Evan Longoria, 3B James Loney, 1B Kelly Johnson, LF Sam Fuld, CF Jose Lobaton, C Yunel Escobar, SS Roberto Hernandez, SP © The Professor for Rays Index, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags:

The New York Yankees return to Tropicana Field in first place in the AL East with a record of 28-18 and they hold a 4 game lead over the Rays (24-22). They visited St. Petersburg on April 22nd through 24th and the Rays took 2 out of 3. In the first game of the series Matt Moore delivered 8 strong innings allowing only 1R/ER on 2 hits striking out 9 and walking 3. Ryan Roberts had 2 homers and Yunel Escobar added another as the Rays defeated C.C. Sabathia 5-1. In the second game David Price delivered his best performance of the season but the offense was unable to take advantage against Phil Hughes and the Yankees scored 2-runs in the 8th inning to take a 4-2 lead. Evan Longoria hit a home run off Mariano Rivera in the 9th to draw the Rays to within a run but the Rays were unable to come back and lost 4-3. The final game of the series matched Alex Cobb against Andy Pettitte and the game remained scoreless through 4 innings before the Rays added 2 runs in the bottom of the 5th and a single run in the bottom of the 6th. Alex Cobb absolutely dominated the Yankees going 8.1 shutout innings allowing 3 hits striking out 7 and walking 1 and the Rays won 3-0. The pitching matchups for the weekend are as follows: David Phelps (2-2, 3.83 ERA) vs Roberto Hernandez (2-4, 5.24 ERA) on Friday at 7:10 p.m., Matt Moore (8-0, 2.29 ERA) vs Vidal Nuno (1-1, 1.13 ERA) on Saturday at 4:10 p.m., and Alex Cobb (5-2, 2.73 ERA) vs C.C. Sabathia (4-3, 3.43 ERA) on Sunday at 1:40 pm.. Since the two teams last met Curtis Granderson has returned to the Yankees, Reid Brignac has been acquired, and David Adams and Austin Romine have joined the team from Triple A. The injuries keep coming as Kevin Youkils, Eduardo Nunez, Francisco Cervelli, Joba Chamberlain, Andy Pettitte, and Ivan Nova have joined Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, and Michael Pineda on the disabled list. Teixeira and Youkilis each had 6 plate appearances in a simulated game on Wednesday afternoon and are are inching closer to beginning rehab assignments. Another player of interest who may be getting close to returning to action is Michael Pineda who may begin a rehab assignment after one more appearance in extended spring training. The Yankees are winning with their pitching. Despite being 4th in the AL in homers with 58 their offense has struggled averaging only 4.24 runs per game and a 93 wRC+ and a wOBA of .314. The inability to score runs has led to 24 of their 46 games being decided by 2 runs or less and they have gone 17-7 in those games. They are 8-4 in one run games which is 3rd in the majors behind Cleveland (11-3) and Texas (9-4). They won their first 19 games when scoring first before losing to the Orioles Tuesday evening. The table below shows the Yankees hitters performance in the month of May. Name PA AVG OBP SLG HR RBI SB wOBA wRC+ David Adams 27 0.308 0.333 0.615 2 3 0 0.405 154 Lyle Overbay 75 0.261 0.307 0.493 3 13 0 0.341 111 Vernon Wells 78 0.270 0.308 0.459 4 11 2 0.328 102 Curtis Granderson 28 0.269 0.321 0.423 1 1 1 0.326 101 Robinson Cano 84 0.238 0.274 0.500 6 16 1 0.322 98 Brett Gardner 77 0.257 0.325 0.371 0 4 7 0.308 88 Travis Hafner 52 0.200 0.308 0.356 2 7 1 0.299 82 Chris Stewart 40 0.235 0.282 0.412 2 4 1 0.296 81 Jayson Nix 65 0.226 0.338 0.283 0 4 2 0.281 70 Ichiro Suzuki 66 0.206 0.231 0.333 1 3 3 0.238 41 Chris Nelson 37 0.222 0.243 0.278 0 2 0 0.23 36 Austin Romine 29 0.143 0.143 0.214 0 2 0 0.153 -16 The Yankees bullpen includes: Mariano Rivera (17 saves), David Robertson, Boone Logan (LHP), Adam Warren, Shawn Kelley, Preston Claiborne, and Dellin Betances. David Phelps Spent the month of April working out of the Yankees bullpen but injuries opened the door for him to join the rotation and he has taken advantage of it.

Tampa Rays fans can head to Tampa Lee Roy Selmon’s locations and get on board a chauffeured luxury bus to Tropicana Field. It’s only $9.95 roundtrip!!! The hated Yankees are in town Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This is a stunning deal! Why waste money on parking and gas, especially when you can ride in style with an adult beverage in hand on a Paradise Worldwide Transportation luxury bus? Click on through below to learn more about the best deal in Tampa Bay sports, the No Excuses Tour to Tropicana Field. Find out how nearly 1,000 fans have enjoyed Rays games since 2011. © The Professor for Rays Index, 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: